‘It’s Just a Sunni-Shia Thing’

This chapter demonstrates that “rising sectarianism” is a direct offshoot of growing Talibanization, which suggests that both schools of thought began to overlap more and more. It talks about the evolution of sectarianism, which translated into mass violence that spilled over to the neighboring region of Orakzai and fostered by socio-economic factors. Sectarianism comes from the belief that the sect which one professes is the only true one and that the followers of other sects should be converted to one's own sect or exterminated. The chapter explains how sectarianism is often seen as the consequence of Zia-ul Haq's Islamization policy in the 1980s, which involved a state monopoly on religion and the dominance of a particular sect. Sectarian consciousness had always existed but it was mostly confined to theological debates and clashes during the month of Muharram.

Over the Border

This chapter studies refugee settlement in the Holy Roman Empire's eastern regions. The Swedish invasion of Poland began during the first week of July of 1655, sparking a flight of refugees across the Commonwealth's western border to the neighboring region of Silesia. Even before the Swedish army arrived, a group of Jews from Great Poland wrote to the Holy Roman Emperor, the Habsburg Ferdinand III, asking permission to enter his territory. However, the Swedish army got to them before Ferdinand's response, so they were forced to cross into Silesia without permission. Once there, they wrote a second letter to the emperor in which they gave a moving description of their sufferings. The emperor gave them the permission they wanted on August 22. These two documents—the Jews' letter and the emperor's response—deepen one's understanding of the refugee experience in the mid-1650s in a number of ways. The Jews' letter suggests that even in cases where a central authority in the Commonwealth was willing to allow the Jewish refugees to return, there were still hostile local forces trying to prevent them from doing so. Meanwhile, the emperor's response indicates that the refugees' choice to make for Silesia, Bohemia, and Moravia as safe havens was a function not only of those regions' geographical proximity to Poland but of the generous terms of travel and settlement that Jews were granted there.

The Consideration of Civil Cases in the Courts of the Khanty-Mansiysky District (1946 – 1955)

The author analyzes the activities of the people's courts of KHMAO-Yugra based on archival sources. The quality of civil cases in the district courts was poor. During 1946–1955, the proportion of decisions upheld in civil cases increased from 37.8 to 68.2 %. However, the main indicators of the Khanty-Mansiysk district courts in civil cases were significantly lower than similar indicators of the courts of the neighboring region – the South of the Tyumen region. The work of the people's courts of the district in reviewing cases of this category was also characterized by instability. Civil cases could not be considered for a year or more. Judges, to improve their performance, went to various tricks and even to violate the law. For example, they destroyed plaintiffs’ statements. When considering civil cases, judges often violated the rules of jurisdiction, procedural and substantive law.

ПРОСТРАНСТВЕННО-АВТОРЕГРЕССИОННЫЙ АНАЛИЗ МЕЖРЕГИОНАЛЬНОЙ ВЗАИМОСВЯЗАННОСТИ ЗАРАБОТНЫХ ПЛАТ В ОТРАСЛЕВОМ РАЗРЕЗЕ

Важной причиной оттока трудоспособного населения, помимо низкого уровня развитости инфраструктуры, является сравнительно более низкий уровень заработных плат по сравнению с другими регионами. Существует ли меж-региональная взаимосвязанность между величинами заработных плат? C одной стороны, возможно наличие положительной пространственной корреляции. Так, повышение оплаты труда в соседнем регионе приведет к тому, что у рабочих появятся стимулы к переезду в этот регион, что, в свою очередь, может привести к дефициту рабочих в рассматриваемом регионе, что, в свою очередь, создаст стимулы для местных компаний повысить оплату труда. С другой стороны, положительная пространственная корреляция может и не наблюдаться или быть незначимой, например, в случае наличия тех или иных барьеров, препятствующих переезду из одного региона в другой. В статье был произведен пространственно-авторегрессионный анализ взаимосвязанности региональных заработных плат в отраслевом разрезе, позволяющий ответить на вопрос, увеличится или уменьшится величина заработной платы в регионе в конкретной отрасли при увеличении соответствующего показателя в соседних регионах при прочих равных условиях. В рамках моделирования было в том числе оценено влияние на заработную плату некоторых социально-экономических факторов. К их числу относятся уровень образованности, доля пенсионеров, коэффициент демографической нагрузки, уровень развития финансовой инфраструктуры в регионе, уровень безработицы, производи-тельность труда. Основной новизной работы представляется использование моделей пространственной авторегрессии, что помимо выявления пространственных взаимосвязей позволило получить более точные оценки коэффициентов, характеризующих влияние на заработную плату рассмотренных факторов ввиду того, что частично удаётся решить известные проблемы, связанные с наличием пропущенных переменных в классических регрессионных моделях. Для анализа были рассмотрены соответствующие региональные данные с 2012 г. по 2016 г. для 83 субъектов Российских Федерации по следующим отраслям: сельское хозяйство, охота и лесное хозяйство; производство пищевых продуктов (включая напитки) и табака; строительство; оптовая торговля, включая торговлю через агентов; розничная торговля, государственное управление и военная безопасность, обработка древесины и производство изделий из дерева (кроме мебели). Положительная значимая пространственной корреляции была выявлена для всех рассмотренных отраслей, кроме оптовой торговли и обработки древесины. Полученные результаты и сформулированные выводы в дальнейшем могут применяться органами государственной власти при реализации мер социально-экономической политики, направленных на регулирование рынка труда, в том числе мер по привлечению и удержанию кадров на конкретной территории. Besides the low level of infrastructural development, the lower level of wages in comparison with other regions is a major cause of labor force outflow. Is there any interregional interconnection between the levels of wages? On the one hand, there is a possibility for a positive spatial correlation. Thus, increase of wages in the neighboring region will result in the stimuli for workers to move into this region which, in its turn, will lead to the insufficiency of workers in the region under review and, consequently, will encourage the local companies to increase the wages. On the other hand, a positive spatial correlation may not exist or be insignificant, for example, in case of the obstacles for interregional migration of labor force. The article has conducted a spatial-autoregressive analysis of interconnectedness of regional wages in the industrial context that answers the question if the wages will go up in the region in the specific industry in the context of increased wages in the neighboring region on condition of other similar conditions. The modelling has allowed evaluating the influence of some economic and social factors on the wages. These factors include: education level, percentage of pensioners, coefficient of demographic load, level of infrastructural development in the region, level of unemployment, labor performance, etc. The main novelty of the research lies in applying the models of spatial auto-regression that, in addition to revealing the spatial interconnections, give more precise evaluation of coefficients which describe the influence of these factors on the wages as they can partially solve the existing problems connected with the existence of omitted variables in the classic regressive models. Our analysis required reviewing the corresponding regional data from 2010 to 2016 for 83 subjects of the Russian Federation on the following industries: agriculture, hunting and forestry; food manufacturing (including beverages) and tobacco; construction; wholesale including trading via agents; government administration and military security; processing of timber and manufacturing of wood products (except for the furniture). A positive value of spatial correlation was discovered for all industries under research except for the wholesale trading and timber processing. The obtained results and conclusions can further be used by government administrative bodies in realization of measures of social and economic policies aimed at labor market regulation including the measures of attracting and retaining the labor force at the specific territory.

Application of spatial Markov chains to the analysis of the temporal–spatial evolution of soil erosion

Soil and water conservation in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area of China is important, and soil erosion is a significant issue. In the present study, spatial Markov chains were applied to explore the impacts of the regional context on soil erosion in the Xiangxi River watershed, and Thematic Mapper remote sensing data from 1999 and 2007 were employed. The results indicated that the observed changes in soil erosion were closely related to the soil erosion levels of the surrounding areas. When neighboring regions were not considered, the probability that moderate erosion transformed into slight and severe erosion was 0.8330 and 0.0049, respectively. However, when neighboring regions that displayed intensive erosion were considered, the probabilities were 0.2454 and 0.7513, respectively. Moreover, the different levels of soil erosion in neighboring regions played different roles in soil erosion. If the erosion levels in the neighboring region were lower, the probability of a high erosion class transferring to a lower level was relatively high. In contrast, if erosion levels in the neighboring region were higher, the probability was lower. The results of the present study provide important information for the planning and implementation of soil conservation measures in the study area.